Taking the bottom head off of the toms

T

Thecowslayer

Senior Member
Hi everyone,
I'm taking a class in audio production right now, and my teacher said that it can be a good idea to take the bottom head off your toms. Has anyone else tried/heard of this?
 
Concert toms (toms with no bottom heads) were all the rage in the 70's.....as was the idea of removing the bottom hoops and heads. Do a search here, there's been a heap of discussion on the idea.
 
Thecowslayer said:
Hi everyone,
I'm taking a class in audio production right now, and my teacher said that it can be a good idea to take the bottom head off your toms. Has anyone else tried/heard of this?
Click to expand...

Operative phrase here is it can be a good idea. The most recent proponent of single-headed toms would be any of Phil Collin's works solo or even when he played with Genesis. That's a great example of what you can do with single-headed toms and lots of studio processing. If that's what you're going for, then cool. But at some point drumming society just said, "wait a minute, my drums no longer sound like drums...."

But I read an old 1982 Modern Drummer interview with John Panozzo from Styx and he said live, they cut holes in his bottom toms heads and stuck a mic in there to make the sound engineer's job easier, and for them, it sounded much better live on stage.
 
I played a concert tom kit for many years through the 70's and 80's.
They are a breeze to tune and record, Just place a mic inside of each tom and go.
Try it.
The downside is that the drums don't sound that good live.
 
Some guy named Bermuda has a set of those, I think.​
 

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Thecowslayer said:
Hi everyone,
I'm taking a class in audio production right now, and my teacher said that it can be a good idea to take the bottom head off your toms. Has anyone else tried/heard of this?
Click to expand...

Pop/rock drummers were removing bottom tom (and front kick) heads back in the '60s. It solves the problem for those who struggle with tuning both heads to sound great, and also provides a slightly drier sound, usually with less decay, so there are at least two aspects to the practice.

OTOH, most drummers have little problem tuning both heads, and most engineers can get a great sound, so removing the tom resos is more a personal preference than a helpful recording method.

Bermuda
 
I am not a fan. But to each their own.

I did try this before, and have tried it on several sets.

It is more staccato and I could see th epoint of wanting that.

Bermuda, you wanna get rid of those ludwigs, I'll take em with no bottom heads! (then add them)
 
I use reso's on all toms. So I'm limited on experience on drums without reso's. I understand one of the reasons some drummers used to take thier reso's off was to make tuning easier and it helps with projecting the sound. Being they have no reso's, the tone decays fast. just what I've heard.
 
Give a try and find it yourself...the sound taste!
 

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i think if you're miking the toms up, it sounds decent. however, i've seen guys play shows where they have no resos on the bass or toms and aren't miked. they get no projection or sustain, just attack. i very much dislike that sound.
 
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